The invention relates generally to a medical device and particularly to an apparatus and method associated with image guided medical procedures.
Image guided surgery (IGS), also known as image guided intervention (IGI), enhances a physician's ability to locate instruments within anatomy during a medical procedure. IGS can include 2-dimensional (2-D) and 3-dimensional (3-D) applications.
Existing imaging modalities can capture the movement of dynamic anatomy. Such modalities include electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated or respiratory-gated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices, ECG-gated or respiratory-gated computer tomography (CT) devices, and cinematography (CINE) fluoroscopy. The dynamic imaging modalities can capture the movement of anatomy over a periodic cycle of that movement by sampling the anatomy at several instants during its characteristic movement and then creating a set of image frames or volumes.
A need exists for an apparatus that can be used with such imaging devices to capture pre-procedural images of a targeted anatomical body and use those images intra-procedurally to help guide a physician to the correct location of the anatomical body during a medical procedure.